A shot through time
by CaptainNemon
Summary: In a world where Vecna succedeed in becoming an all-powerful god and most of Vox Machina is gone, Percy will do ANYTHING in his power to change the story.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Uum, sir?" Kynan's voice somehow flowed through the battlefield without hesitation, other than the obvious one in the kid's tone. "We won't be able to hold them for much longer, maybe we need to retreat?"

Percy took another shot and another wraith disappeared just like that. It was so easy, yet there were so many.

"As long as Whitestone stands, I stand by its side." Percy said recharging his gun. "It hasn't fallen yet, has it?"

Kynan fired too and one of the ghouls screamed as one of its eye sockets got a giant hole in the center to replace it. He looked behind him, the castle was still standing like a great old monument without a single scratch.

"I guess not, s-sir."

"Then we haven't either." Percy yelled. "Keep them at a distance, the traps will go off any moment now!"

The traps did eventually go off. Percy was not proud to call these things "traps". They were more like dirty tricks that any toddler with a willing hand and a witty mind could have thought of, but right now this was all they had so he had to make do.

Explosion after explosion, half the raiding "party" disappeared in the smoke caused by the ignitions.

It was something. The troops gained a little morale while watching their foes get disintegrated before their eyes without them having to risk their lives. But what little comfort the sudden change in the battle gave was taken away almost immediately by the second wave of enemies clambering over the dead bodies like starved beasts.

The gunslinger already had his gun in hand and at the ready. When the first enemy appeared in sight. BOOM. His head was off. A second creature with three heads and strange needles in his body appeared right behind. BOOM. The baseball hole in his chest sent him flying backwards and colliding with various other creatures.

This kept up for what it felt like days. the trembling in Percy's hands got worse and worse every shot he took, but he kept taking them. He never once stopped himself or doubted a shot and he never once missed.

Everything was lost. It had been lost for a long long time now, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to fight until his last breath. Oh, he was going to do much more than that now. This war was far from finished, and if everything went as planned, everything WOULD change.

But for now, he just needed to survive long enough for-

"Hope I'm not late."

A blurred shadow flew by the battlefield at such a speed that Percy couldn't keep up with it. The dark creature moved in an erratic pattern from undead to undead.

Every sudden stop came with a scream as the surprised creatures lost their un-lives. The wave changed again and suddenly they were winning once more.

"I will not grant you the satisfaction of thanking you for that!" Percy yelled as he run out of his cover followed by Kynan and the rest of the soldiers.

The few monsters that weren't being mutilated by the winged rogue started in his direction, getting closer by the second. Bad News wasn't ideal for a close-up scenario, that was a place reserved only for his new Scattergun.

Percival unleashed a relentless attack on all the creatures that dared come closer than 30 feet from him. But in the middle of his second volley the gun jammed almost blowing off part of his hand. The creatures were upon him and he didn't have the support of his riflemen to protect him. Taken by his own frenzy he had gotten himself too far into the fray.

This was not himself, he used to be calm and methodical in this kind of arts, at least after the whole dealing with the Briarwoods. But he didn't really feel like himself since the fight with him, with the one-eyed monster that had taken everything away from him one more time.

He had to be patient, he had to wait just a little more, but patience was running thin in his mind. He damned himself for realizing this just now, moments before his imminent death.

He counted at least ten different undead beasts throwing themselves against him trying to tear him apart and consume what would be left after.

A shower of black feathers fell around him and, in a second, he was off the ground and into the air as he felt Vax's arms grab his torso with all his strength and lift him.

"Hey whitey," Vax said with a half-smile in his face, "don't go dying on me just yet, there will be time for that later, now we have this whole shmock of things to kill."

"Already on it." He answered while taking Bad News out of his back one more time.

"Only take sure shots, Kynan asked me to tell you that you are running low on gun powder, so only shoot when you know you'll hit." Vax added as he flew around at half his normal speed.

"It offends me that you'd insinuate I would ever waste a shot," Percy said with a straight face, "all these bloody zombies don't deserve more than one bullet."

He kept firing from the sky, where none of the enemies could reach them. At the same time this gave a big clearing for the rest of the rifleman to shoot and regain terrain while the monsters were distracted.

This was the winning strategy, at least until the second shadow appeared.

The pallid sun hidden behind the always present clouds disappeared from Percy's eyes as a three sizes bigger than the rogue shadow appeared out of nowhere.

"Gloomstalker!" Vax yelled as he yanked them to the ground in a forced landing. The huge wyvern-like monster flew only inches away from them, hitting instead a group of three man that where northward of them.

The screams of the dying riflemen got stuck in the gunslinger's mind. This did not distract him or slowed him in any way. They would only been added to the countless others. The ones from Exandria, from his family, from his friends, from Vex. There would be time for mourning their deaths later, all of them, but only if he failed, only if he wasn't able to fix everything.

One second. Everything in the battlefield halted to a stop as the gloomstalker turned around on top of the corpses redirecting his sickly green glowing eyes towards the two of them. Two seconds. Neither man nor undead made a move, as if the creature would not be able to sense them that way. Three seconds. That was enough.

"Every man with a rifle shoot the weak ones!" Percy commanded as he resumed his position as the true leader of his people. "Vax and me will take care of the big one."

"Just like old times," Vax said and he threw himself in one of his super speed attacks. Percy tried to keep sight of him through the eyesight of his weapon. He saw one dagger come in and out of the creature's chest, followed by another big cut with the offhand to his knee and a third one to the throat.

The monster opened his mouth wide as the third strike was about to end trying to bite Vax at the same time, completely ignoring the damage he had received.

Percy lined the shot, held his breath and let a bullet fly directly into his mouth knocking the creature back and letting the rogue get away from it unharmed. Before the gloomstalker could begin to regain his senses, the gunslinger had already a second bullet in his chambers. He shot, and shot and shot without drawing another breath, letting his fingers do the work, the routine they were so accustomed now, when all he could do was this.

The wound in the monster's throat got bigger and deeper with each shot hitting the same exact mark. The gloomstalker tried getting away from the source of its damage and flailed his needle-like tail around him sending various of his supposed allies flying in all directions.

Vax took the opportunity. He swore his Vow of Enmity in the form of what sounded to him as a promise of soon death and jumped right into the beast's range with his magical daggers in hand. One dagger went in after the other marking and X shaped scar into the gloomstalker's torso. A strangely dark energy flowed through the wound and bursted in a sudden explosion of radiant power.

The monster lurched forward in spasmed moves, its whole body dripping a thick black liquid from where Vax's energy had pierced. It slashed with its claws at the rogue three consecutive times, missing the first one and hitting with its second. The half-elf got pushed to the side as the giant hand hit him directly in the chest knocking the wind out of his lungs, or it would have if he were any other person in the world. Instead, as Vax got hit, he used the momentum of the slash to avoid the third attack going straight for his face.

The claw slashed upward destroying the afterimage of the annoying paladin in one swoop.

Vax got out of the way and Percy appeared just behind him with a metallic sphere in one hand and Bad News in the other.

"Manners!" He yelled as he threw the machination against the creature's face.

Its tail swung in a spiral and sent it flying away with ease.

"I assumed it wouldn't work," The gunslinger said as he stood with his gun pointed directly in to the gloomstalker's mouth. "After all, you can't teach that kind of stuff to garbage like you."

He took three more shots, the last ones he had.

The top half of the undead beast disappeared in a mess of blood and flesh while the rest of his body dropped dead in the ground with a wet thump.

He swung around prepared to continue fighting but to his surprise the riflemen had already taken care of almost every other threat.

Whitestone stood one day more. Its walls untouched, its citizens safe. But what was more important, his last to-be invention laid still protected beneath it all, and as long as he had that, he had hope.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

From the moment that Percy saw Kashaw and Sarah plummet to their demise, he knew that something was wrong. It wasn't until much later, until it was already too late, that he realized that that alarming sensation was the beginning of Vox Machina's failure.

The first one to go was Pike, of course. It was as if he had written upon the sheets of destiny himself, if only he believed in such crap. The priestess went down, her last breath a silent sorry that everyone could hear. Only she wasn't just that, just a priestess or a healer. She was much more, but he couldn't afford to think about them like that, like more than a role in a plan that didn't work.

Next was Keyleth. THIS was the moment when the realization stroked deep in his chest. He should have told them to run, he should have died in her place, he should have been able to prevent it in any way possible. But he didn't, he kept fighting, holding to a foolish hope of a wish or a miracle that would end everything and save the world.

Right in that instance where his mind started expecting a solution without any cause was when his laughter filtered through into his mind. Vecna's voice resounded all over his head like the one he had heard so many times before Scanlan threw his gun.

"Oh, this is delightful, it is just so easy to pick the next one when you telegraph them so conveniently to me," Vecna said savouring every letter he pronounced, "Watch, oh please watch, for it is now the bard's turn."

With that Vecna pushed and pulled in an arcane battle that no one, not even Scanlan, had the rights to be. The soon to be god attacked him relentlessly ignoring all the rest while Scanlan did his best not to fall under his attacks. But his best was not enough, Grog's wasn't either.

In a flicker of the undead fingers the gnome got disintegrated with the huge goliath.

The gun was in the ground, the trembling too strong to even hold it. The gunslinger face was covered in tears and shadows as he, without even realizing it, glared to his wife. Vex looked back at him, at the same time that the demi-god placed his eyes upon her.

With but a glance she understood what was happening, she knew every little thing that was going on through his mind. She had always been able to do that. It was magic, one of the few kinds that he didn't hate. It was impossible for her to know that all he could hear was the maniacal cackle of his enemy tormenting him.

"This is not your fault, he will never win." Vex's mouth uttered in plain silence while Vecna's voice cluttered his brain.

"Such a foolish goodbye." He said and then she was gone. In a second there was nothing. That's how he remembered that moment, that's how his mind chose to do it.

"As a token of my appreciation," Vecna continued this time out loud, "I will allow you to continue living... Just for a little while. I have other matters to attend to."

Vax'ildan laid unconscious in the ground, unable to die, the barrier holding him in this world. It was just the two of them. A simple man and a newly risen god.

"Before i go, i grant you my thanks, i couldn't have done it so efficiently without you." Vecna said. "Consider this victory as much yours as it was mine."

He laughed an awful and lifeless laugh and teleported himself elsewhere.

Percy stood there, not a single motion in his muscles. Unable to think or to act, feeling numb and confused. And then he was home.

* * *

"Freddy!" The knocking on his door awoke him in a sudden pool of sweat and sheets.

He didn't remember having gone to his room or to sleep at all. Had he just collapsed from exhaustion after the battle? That wouldn't be very dignifying in front of his men but he wasn't quite sure how long had he been without sleeping.

"It's me, if you don't come out I will come in and it will not be pleasant for neither of us." Vax said, though his voice was muffled by the door in the way.

"I'm coming, i'm coming." Percy answered looking for his glasses.

He was still wearing the same garments that he had taken to battle. Whenever that had been. Had someone moved him here?

While arranging himself to look a little more presentable he did take the time to remorse in his nightmare. It had been decreasing slowly through the years the frequency with which he dreamed of these events. One would had thought that after twenty years or so it would have already banished, but no. And despite all logical thinking in the last few weeks the dream had come to him more and more. Was it because he was so close? He certainly didn't feel like he was.

He opened the door.

"Oh, hi Freddy, how you holding up?" Vax asked letting himself in the room.

"Please come in." Percy said then closed the door. "I… I'm alright, I think. Did I pass out where I was standing?"

"What? No, you gave orders to your men then garbled something about another something that you had to work on and went off to the castle." Vax answered with concern in his face. "Tried to stop you but you weren't listening. Looked for you for the last couple hours, thought you'd be in your workshop but no, only Tary down there, he didn't see you neither."

"Fascinating." Percy uttered. "I don't recall doing any of that."

"You are acting weird Freddy," Vax said, "and talking about weird, what the fuck was that back outside?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"You went all Rambo out there, what happened?" He asked scanning the room.

"I had it under control, there's nothing to worry about." Percy lied keeping a straight face.

"Look man, if you want to bullshit the others to keep them going even after this long that's fine, I'm all for it, but you know I can see through that." Vax answered really annoyed.

"It's…" Percy sighed. "I'm actually okay."

Vax was silent for a moment, trying to read him. Finally, he sighed too and sit on his bed.

"Look, I know it hurts you to see me because I'm so much like… Like... And that's why I've been coming and going, don't want to keep you in the past, but I do think that before giving up we should at least stick together."

He was quite like her, though in all the wrong and stupid ways. But that was okay with him, that way he could be sure he wouldn't forget her face. She continued living a little bit through him, they all did. It was not enough, but it was something to hold on to.

"You are quite annoying, do you know?" Percy said opening the door one more time.

"Well that does sound like the Percy I know."

"I may have been carried away, and I may have not really been sleeping the last couple weeks." The gunslinger lingered on the door. "I've been very busy with an old project, and I think I'm almost finished with it."

"How much sleep is *not really been sleeping*?" Vax asked with half a grin.

"Do the last couple of hours count?"

"Oh, not at all, they were barely more than one."

"Then I estimate around cero hours." Percy said feeling very tired again. "Come, I'll show you what we've been working on and you can get me some coffee in the way."

The rogue exited the room with the gunslinger behind and both of them directed themselves first to the kitchen and then to the new workshop that had been built in recent years below the castle.

"You've been having the dream again." Vax stated matter of factly while they were walking.

"The dream?" Percy asked.

"You know the one, I've dreamt about it too, recently." He continued. "I think, I think it may be a sign from _her._ "

"If it is, I have no idea what it means, except maybe that she has found a new joy in reopening old wounds." Percy answered disguising his anger with sarcasm.

When the whole thing was over, he had gone to the Raven Queen's Temple and attempted to talk to her, to get some kind of help or answer, instead all he received was silence. In retrospective he should have expected no more than that, but desperate people do desperate things. And in that moment, even in this one, he was ready to even ask help from a god if it gave him what he wanted.

"I'm not sure to be honest." Vax said.

"What did you do while you were gone?" Percy asked trying to change the subject.

The grin in the half-elf's face came back a little wider.

"Looking and gathering people." He said. "Even in the apocalypse itself, there are still lots of people with great potential to change the world, maybe even in ways that we weren't able."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I've found a really interesting group, they remind me a lot of us but they are still rough, with time they could be the next big thing, maybe even take the one-eyed fucker up in his throne on." Vax said.

"That sounds promising, we'll call it plan B." Percy answered.

"What's plan A?"

"I'm glad you finally asked."

Percy opened the door to the workshop with the most dramatic flair he could.

Inside hundreds of different metallic pieces laid thrown around in various tables that were displayed in a circle around what was the main event.

Inside the circle there was a machine like none Vax or any other living creature had seen. It was placed in the middle of a very intricate magical circle carved on the ground and it consisted in various bulbs and cables that crossed each other around a rustic seat with some sort of panel in front of it. Around it were five huge rings, the further the bigger, that did the ways of a strange ladder to the machine itself.

Tary appeared from behind the machine, half his face smeared with some kind of oily substance. His face was not the happiest, although seeing them two did bring a joyous smile on it.

"Doty, the towel!" He yelled to his back where his new iteration of his robet companion appeared, towel in hand. Doty cleaned Taryon's face then retrieved to the shadows once more as the blonde guy approached them. The new 5.0 version of Doty was taller and at the same time it resembled more the form of a human than a machine. He had a majestic moustache almost identical to Taryon's and Percy suspected there were hidden weapons along his chassis though his friend had never showed them to him. He was probably waiting for the right moment.

"It is nice to see you gentlemen." Taryon said as he reached them. "Have you come to accompany me in a nice dinner?"

"I think Freddy has other plans, though I could be wrong." Answered Vax studying the whole place.

"Actually, a good dinner sounds delightful." Percy answered just realizing how hungry he was.

Taryon's face lighted up.

"Oh! Yes, please, take me out of here!" He begged and instantly realized how he sounded. "I mean, is not that I don't enjoy working here with you Percy, is just that you haven't been here for some days now and Doty is not exactly a great chatter, though he is a rather exquisite listener."

"I'm terribly sorry, we were just attacked by another raid party and before that I was bussy preparing the defences and keeping everything from falling on top of ourselves." Percy answered.

"I thought your sister took care of that." Vax said from far away while toying with one of the strange pieces in one of the tables.

"She did but has fallen ill off recent and I've taken over temporary so she can rest and recover."

"You don't need to worry, I entertained myself teaching Doty some new words. She is now able to pronounce *Little elf boy* without almost any stutter, though she keeps having problems with the L." Taryon said looking back to his servant. "I do need to talk to you about an important matter."

"What is it?" Percy asked.

Taryon looked around the place placing his eyes upon the half-elf. He then conspicuously grabbed the gunslinger by the arm and moved him to the hallway.

"It's not that I don't trust Vax it's just that I don't really know how much you told him about our little project and I didn't want t...

"I was just about to tell him but please spit what's bothering you."

"We are missing one last part, we have the whole thingy done and ready but it lacks fuel and I sincerely have no clue what that could even be." Tary blurted suddenly almost panicking.

Percy put a hand on his shoulder to calm him although this just seemed to upset even more the artificer.

"I'll take care of that, in fact I'll take it from here, I know you have to go back to take care of your own brigade and your family." Percy said with a mix of sadness and happiness in his voice.

"You know what will make thi machine work?" Taryon replied pronouncing very slowly and strangely the name of the invention.

"It's one of the things that have kept me bussy." He answered.

"Well if the whole process until now proves something it won't be easy getting whatever you need now."

The both of them entered the room again where Vax was really hard trying not to appear to be listening to them while obviously listening.

"We are actually in the easiest part right now." Percy said optimistically. "Just designing the bloody machine took almost ten years. Gathering the metal components and giving them the right shape and balance and then getting the right spells was almost as difficult."

"Making a magic circle with the runes form time stop was genius of me, you are probably very glad you brought me in in your wild idea." Taryon added.

"I am." Percy smiled.

"I still wonder how did you even came up with the design." Taryon kept going.

He had asked before, he wouldn't get his answer now either. It was not important, old habits died hard.

"I guess I was just very lucky, I'm thankful, if there is any way I could repay you..."

"Just, just come back." Taryon said suddenly very saddened. "Save us all and come back. Go, save us all, comeback, and we'll have dinner, you owe me at least two for all of this."

"I'm not sure that's how this works." He replied.

"I know, but you understand."

"I will, I promise I'll set things straight, and then we will have a feast for the ages. We will all have." He said trying to contain his own emotions.

"That sounds great."

Taryon lingered for a minute, then he stretched his body and called Doty to accompany him upstairs where he would "take a bath and change into a more suitable suit before even thinking about dinner."

He remarked that he wouldn't return home just yet, he would at least stay until the machine was completed and ready to use.

Percy and Vax were finally alone in the workshop. The two looked at the machine with weary eyes.

"So, i'll pretend I didn't listen and ask, what is this?" Vax said stretching both his arms.

"It's a time machine." Percy answered using his formal tone. "Or at least it will be, once i get the last part."

"A time machine? As in time travel?" Vax asked perplexed.

"Yes."

"As in going back in time or is it just a really big and fancy... metal... thing that tells you the day and hour?"

"That's a clock or a sundial, I think there used to be one in the garden." Percy answered amused by the rogue. "No, I mean as in going back in time, and potentially forward."

Vax studied one more time the whole machine, the light of realization slowly dawning on his mind. Percy could tell just by seeing the subtle changes on his face how fast he pasted every part together.

His friend turned around getting almost in his face with a worried, angry and confused look.

"When you said you'd fix everything you meant this?" He asked almost fuming.

"This is exactly what I meant, I didn't tell you before because I was never sure we would even get to this point, much less even consider the possibility of the thing actually working." Percy defended himself.

"A time machine." Vax repeated.

Silence.

Percy had nothing else to say, his arguments had gone dry. This was the solution, the only one. Vax would either see it, or he wouldn't. Either way Percy would carry on with the next phase of the project.

They were quiet for a very long time. Percival felt his eyes asking him to close them, even if it was for only five minutes, but he refused sternly and angrily. He could sleep later, everything else could be done later.

Vax sighed.

"I don't know what to say." He began. "Why did you show me this? You probably imagined how I would react, how did this play out in that smart mind of yours?"

"Very similar to this, but I did had a much better speech." He answered.

"This is not moving on, you are still carrying all the weight of your past in your shoulders." Vax sat on the nearest table. "It will bury you, it is not meant to by carried for eternity, this is not sane."

"I will burden the weight of my failures and my past like I've been doing now for all my life no matter what. That is a truth I have accepted long ago, even before our last battle." Percy replied with a new-found anger inside of him. "But this," he pointed to the time machine, "this will allow me to bury the mistakes of everyone else, to save countless lives, to change everything and set it how it should have been."

Percy stayed standing though his legs shouted for a comfortable chair or whatever could do the trick.

"You know this is not how things should have gone, this is neither just nor fair, and I certainly do not accept this as the results of our hard work."

"And what do you need me to do?" Vax asked without any conviction but trusting his friend nonetheless.

Percy finally sat letting his body relax and shout at the soreness of his muscles.

"There is one last element I need for the machine to work properly."

"And that is?"

"The blood of a Temporal Drake." He answered through sheer willpower.

"What does that even mean?" Vax asked curiously once again.

"It means we are going hunting." Percy replied standing up once more.


	3. Chapter 3

Percy stepped into the forest. It was cold and silent and bathed by the night's shadows and the falling snow. A lot of memories traversed his mind with every step he took. He had once run through here, trying to save his own life when he was little. Those times seem very far away now.

He passed between two huge trunks that were in the middle of falling creating a sort of gate.

He stopped seeing something move between the shadows.

"Are you trying to scare me Davy?" He said rolling around and finding what he was looking for.

In front of him with a huge bony smile there was a terrifying visage. A devil made entirely out of bones with mosquito-like wings spread to both sides of his body. His fingers were extremely large and had sharp claws at the end and his legs twisted and bended in inhuman ways almost appearing to be broken.

Percy didn't really pay much attention to these details. He kept certain to have the devil's tail at sight at all times, he had tried tricks with it before. Their new contract didn't restrain him from that.

"That's not my name either." The monstrous creature answered with a raspy and deformed voice, his red eyes focusing on the human.

After invoking the second pact of Ipkesh's contract he had been given command of some lower devils for 1 month to use as he pleased. He had gotten to put some "emissaries" of Dispatter in places that he rather he wouldn't have, but that was just another error that would eventually be solved.

He had asked for the devil's name but none of them had the desire to share that information, so he had been guessing every time he saw them ever since. Eventually he had made a deal with the devils themselves, one month being not enough. It was a terrible deal and Percy was now sure that he probably owed his soul to at least five different entities. Bollocks.

"Well, it shall be for the remaining of this discussion since you insist on appearing where you can be seen besides my clear instructions to not do just that." Percy said. "So, we'll both have the pleasure of being mildly annoyed through our conversation."

The devil, Davy, breathed heavily making a grumpy sound.

"Come on now, did you get what I asked for?" Percy asked.

"Yesss." Davy answered with a hiss and giving him a tiny box with a rune on the bottom.

"I trust it wasn't a big deal travelling to the feywild to get this."

"No, though I did have to _present_ myself to some of the fellas in the other side." The devil grinned and a little blood flowed from his mouth.

"Yes, you apparently never get tired of acquainting yourself with the locals wherever I send you." Percy sighed.

"I got what you wanted." He growled.

"I got what I ordered, and you obeyed as by your contract." Percy said upping his voice. "Do not forget who you serve, you may have a claim in my soul but I could kill you right now if I so desired."

"Hhhmmm, someday." Davy replied backing a little.

Percy caught Davy's tail retracting slowly but surely through the white snow.

"Be gone now." He said. And with that the devil disappeared in the dark leaving no mark of his presence.

"Did you enjoy the show Abaddon?" Percy shouted to the trees in no direction in particular.

A greenish creature much smaller than the other, with a barbed hide and a reptilian tail jumped from tree to tree and landed in front of him without much trepidation.

"I do am sorry to intrude in your private matters my lord." The barbed devil said. "I was in the right place at the wrong time I believe."

The creature smiled a hideous smile and bowed eloquently.

"All of you seem to enjoy pissing me off." Percy stated. "I recall telling you too to not let yourself be seen."

"No one is watching my lord, I made sure of that, so do not worry." The devil replied. "And i'm sorry, but that is not my name either."

"What a shame." He sighed and put the little box in his bag. "Please tell me that you brought the answer from the Slayer's Take."

"I did as you requested, though it was difficult to convince them to listen to me and not kill me on sight." Abbadon answered at the same time he gave back to Percy a parchment with the guild sign and a letter from himself. "Lady Cyndrial ended giving me the location of this Temporal Drake that you desired to find but she asked to tell you, and I quote, that *you are crazy if you try to go hunt it or even just try to enter the damned place, and that you should get yourself better messengers. *"

Abbadon proceeded to give him a map with the approximate location of the beast.

Percy looked at it with longing but cautious eyes. The devil remained immobile in a bowing position until the gunslinger noted that he was still there.

"You may leave now, thank you."

"Could I try a guess, sir?" Abbadon prodded.

"Sure."

"Is it that you were happy?" It asked.

"Not even close." He replied.

Abbadon laughed and then disappeared in the same way as Davy.

Percy walked back to the castle hugging himself to fight the cold.

* * *

"So, the neverfields." Vax'ildan said as he looked down to the water.

The boat moved slowly but surely as the snowing continued. The water was calm which was good because Percy didn't know if he could tolerate it otherwise.

It was a beautiful image with what little light the moon shone upon the grand sea.

"Do you know what's up there?" Vax asked.

"I sense a witty comeback for that question approaching."

"Snow," Vax said ignoring him, "and nothing, oh and did I say snow?"

"I believe you did." Percy replied. "I did ask you to bring winter closing, I've got no clue how long this affair will take."

"I hope not much, we are almost in New Year's eve, I'd like to spend that moment beside a chimney with the people I love and various foods and not up there with a quasi-dragon trying to kill me."

"Don't know why you worry so much, you cannot die." Percy said.

"Oh, what a wonderful reminder Freddy, when we get there remind me to stuff your pants with snow."

Percy smiled as he managed the small boat. Quite the beautiful and frightening visage indeed.

There was no port, not this up to the north. There was actually nothing at all except for plain white upon white.

They got there in the middle of a rather powerful snow storm, though to his knowledge those were pretty common in the neverfields. Not for nothing nobody came here, at least nobody sane.

They left the boat in some rocky shores, trying to tie it with as much rope and complex knots as they could, then they affronted the storm with as much willingness as they could.

The neverfields were a plateau of ice and snow combined in the worst way possible. Every step put you deeper in the very unbalanced ground and further from any salvation possible from this frozen place. The storm blocked visibility to the point where if they got more than 20 feet a part they could lose each other, so while they were walking they decided to tie a rope between themselves.

Percy had brought winter clothes, especially one exclusively designed electric blue coat that had a fuzzy warm interior that kept him moving when his fingers and feet felt like dying right there. His feet were wet all the time, that was something he just had to accept.

He didn't like it here. It somehow seemed like this place had stayed the same even after Vecna's ascension. Like the new god had thought that this place was already as terrible as it could and should be, so he left it untouched.

Vax, in the other side, wore his normal raven armour, completely unaffected by the cold or the wind.

Percy realized he was spiralling into negative thoughts, at least more than usual, so he tried to distract himself by making his partner annoyed. Vax did his part in return and just like that the first two days of exploration passed without a single encounter or clue.

It was in the third day or night, it was difficult to tell because of the never-ending storm that blocked even the light, that things started to progress.

The two of them had made camp in some sort of natural cave beneath a giant boulder that acted as a roof blocking the snow and rain. They had a fire going and had just finished eating some raw meats. Percy was preparing to take himself the first guard while Vax slept when the rogue yelled.

"I saw something!" Vax ran to the entrance of the cave.

Percy followed behind taking Animus from his belt and putting Bad News in his back. He looked outside.

Snow, lots and lots of snow.

"What?" He asked.

"It was like a shadow, like a really big one, darker than the rest, in that direction." The rogue pointed generally to the east.

"I don't see nothing, but when has that stopped us from running into anywhere?" He said.

"It's not like we have any other clues to follow right now, I say we let the fire burning so we see it in the distance and follow whatever it's out there." Vax proposed seeing much more willing than Percy expected.

"Okay, but don't get your expectations high, it could have been any other horrible monster, or most likely nothing." Percy said as he started walking.

"You must be really fun at parties." Vax said.

"You know exactly how I am at parties." Percy replied.

Vax took the front while Percy stayed at the rear.

After five or ten minutes in the marching the gunslinger realized one of two mistakes he had done. The first one was that in the hit of the moment he had forgotten his glasses so he was losing sight of the rogue, his black armour and hair melting with the darkened background of the sky. The second one was that they hadn't tied each other as not to get separated.

Percy looked down at his feet and up again and suddenly Vax was gone. He looked in all directions but couldn't see anyone or anything more than snow. He tried looking for the flickering light of their fire and failed. Was this how he died? Frozen to death in the middle of nowhere? No. He refused.

"Vax!" He yelled as if there was no tomorrow. "Vax'ildan!"

No answer, only the echoes of his words. Motherfucker.

"Vax, you bloody half-elf come back!"

Nothing, except...

He heard a sound behind him.

Steps, he heard them very clearly though he could barely hear his own ones. He turned around unable to see past the blurry lines of the person behind him.

The person approached him and when he got near, he gave him his glasses. Percy sighed with relief as he cleaned them and then put them on.

"You are a sneaky bastard, you know?" He said.

He looked up but the man in front of him wasn't Vax. It was just a kid, no more than 25 years of age. He was wearing a really big poncho that protected him from the cold but he seemed as out place in the neverfields as the gunslinger did.

"Wh... who are you?" Percy asked not sure how to proceed.

He was not an elf, which was the most logical proposition considering Lysengorn was the closest "civilization" to this random place in the frozen wilds. So, what was he doing here?

"That's not really important at all." The kid said. "Put your hand on my shoulder and follow me, I will take you to safety."

"I don't want to offend you but a kid shows up in the middle of nowhere just as i'm about to freeze myself to death, he doesn't tell me his name and acts very ominously, you'll understand if I don't really trust you." Percy rolled with trembling teeth out of his mouth.

The kid just stood there, watching him and giving him a faint smile. The falling snow seemed to avoid him, as if the space he occupied wasn't really there at all.

"Give me a reason to trust you." Percy said not sure how to proceed.

"I know where your camp is, and your friend, and I came specially to this place to help you." The kid thought for a moment then continued. "I have nothing else to offer you, if you don't follow me you'll die, you know it and I know it too, please don't be difficult."

Percy stood there, his hands shaking. He bit his leap and put a hand in the shoulder of the boy. He was familiar, he could swear he remembered a person like this from somewhere though this individual did not talk like any human being or a human being.

They walked in silence, Percy deep in thought wondering how the kid could even orient himself without any kind of machine or any visual aid to know where to go.

"You know, I shouldn't let you do this, so after I get you to the cave you will go back home, okay?" The kid said with a strange calmness. His words flowed to his ears like they were being guided.

It was in that moment that Percy remembered.

"I know you, you were one of Kynan's friend, who are you?" Percy asked letting his shoulder go and grabbing Animus from his belt.

The kid turned around with a flowing motion.

"Jameson, I'm surprised you remember." He said. "What you are doing is stupid and dangerous, please reconsider."

Percy aimed Animus at the boy.

"No no no, I asked who are you, or should I ask what are you?" He yelled trying to gain some distance from the boy. "You haven't aged, what do you want from me?"

"I've been sent to stop you, you will change everything and that could bring unfixable chaos, though I'm not so sure about that, but that's beside the point." Jameson said. "Just follow me and everything will be alright."

"Where's Vax? What did you do to him? Did _he_ send you?" Percy continued asking.

"Vax'ildan? I didn't do nothing to him, I wouldn't lay a finger on the fate touched, it's against the rules." He said. "I see you are still wearing the ring." A frown accompanied his words.

Percy had two rings, he had had them since the battle with Vecna. One was a reminder of his marriage, a pain being held against his hand. The second one had been given to Vex by the Higbearer Vord.

"You know he can see you even with it?" Jameson asked.

"I know, but if he is going to be spying on my affairs at least I'll make him put some effort into it, let's call it a happy inconvenience." Percy replied pointing the kid with his gun.

"I'll ask one more time, please drop this whole thing off, it's not worth it." The boy said, though he didn't look convinced at all.

"If you are not helping or answering, you are just in the way." Percy said.

The kid took a step forward moving his hands to his pockets. A little trail of black smoke went up Percy's neck and arm as he shot four times in a row.

The bullets hit directly into Jameson thrusting him backwards.

He fell into the ground getting half buried in snow. Percy got close to him to see what was going on.

The kid was smiling.

"So, this is the path you have chosen to walk." He started. "Okay, do it, prove us wrong, I might be right after all." His eyes looked up, directly behind him.

Percy followed his gaze and he saw the flickering light of the fire from their encampment, a very worried rogue paced around it shouting the gunslinger's name.

He looked back down but there was nothing there, just a hole in the ice.

Percy continued walking until reaching the camp where Vax almost threw himself over him.

"We should wait the storm out." Vax said.

Percy sat himself as close to the fire as possible.

"Do you remember a Jameson?" He asked.

"Ehrm, not really." The rogue sat beside him. "Why?"

"There was someone out there that called himself that..." Percy kept thinking about the kid's words. "Forget it, must have been some kind of delusion of my brain."

"Okay." Vax said obviously not believing him but he didn't continue asking.

The next morning came. The storm had subsided to almost nothing and once again they were greeted by a grey and black sky from where the sun shily shun.

They went out ready to hunt or be hunted, they couldn't afford to waste this possibility. Even if they didn't find the Drake they would have to come back, someone had to take care of Whitestone.

After a couple hours the rogue found a trail to follow so they slowed their pace and stuck to the ground. There were footprints like dragon claws that had been recent, otherwise they would have been hidden by the little snow that kept falling. The footprints were big, as big as them, and were very erratic in nature which made a very difficult task to follow them.

They arrived to a frozen forest where a new colour in the landscape appeared. Wet brown. Hundreds and hundreds of frozen trees appeared out of nowhere painting the white with streaks of black and brown.

Some of the trunks had fallen recently, Percy determined, so they continued into it with care but also the rising hit of the upcoming encounter.

It happened really quickly and all the sounds seemed to be swallowed by the empty vastness that the neverfields were.

It was Percy who saw the drake at first, almost 200 feet from them. A huge dragon-like creature with specks of white in an almost entirely black scaled body. He was feeding himself from some very unlucky wolf that had been passing through the forest and his blood painted part of his mouth and claws in a crimson deep red. He had wide wings but they were pledged to his back because of the trees surrounding them.

The gunslinger and the rogue threw themselves to the ground as not to be seen.

Percy took out Bad News and aligned the shot. He took it and hit the monster dead centre on his back. Except not. Percy saw the bullet penetrate through the scales on the Drake's back and then he didn't.

The drake blinked in an out of existence rotating his head towards them. It suddenly reappeared in the same place than before but the bullet hadn't touched it.

"What the fuck." Said Vax without understanding.

"Let's make this quick and painless." Percy said standing up.

The rogue was up and flying to his prey. Except his prey was not there anymore. The Temporal Drake disappeared at random all around them. Vax cut through air trying to land even a single hit while Percy kept shooting in all directions. The creature was so so fast and unpredictable that landing a single hit seemed impossible.

This was probably one of his abilities tied to the time stream. It was not becoming invisible, with its size it would have hit various trees while moving, so it was probably jumping in and out of time to prevent taking any damage.

Percy tried to look for a pattern but there was none, the blinking never repeated itself in a static number so he kept taking shots while Vax flew around chasing the beast. Suddenly, propelled by his own luck, Whisper found purchase in one of the drake's wings, drawing blood and painting the surrounding snow in a bright blue.

The gunslinger was quick on his feet and took several shots, most of them hitting. This time without a re-do.

The drake settled his eyes on Percival. He felt a sudden will cease his mind and slam against his brain with such power that he almost tripped. He closed his eyes and then everything blinked.

He opened his eyes once again feeling the pressure banish. The drake was not there, neither was Vax. Half of the trees had been destroyed. There were specks of blood everywhere. What had happened?

He looked everywhere and heard the sounds of battle even further than where they have been. He ran to them recharging his weapon in the process. If the Drake had abilities tied to the flow of time, maybe it had slowed time for him or accelerated it around him. No, that didn't make sense, he would have noticed the sudden burst in movements. This had been like... Like a blink. Had he been banished from the current time stream by the monster?

"Percy, a little help!" Vax yelled as the drake blinked in and out of time and bit him directly in the chest hurling him against another tree that collapsed making a hard thump.

Percival was shooting, recharging and shooting again, the sounds of the explosions on his barrels almost deafening him with the high intensity.

Vax got up and close to him once more.

"Where were you?" He asked over the shooting.

"Where were you!?" Percy replied trying not to lose focus.

Vax was bleeding profusely though part of his wounds started closing as they spoke. The drake was bleeding too, how many seconds had he lost in this fight?

The drake arched his back putting all of his body weight upon his lower legs. He seemed to take a deep breath then he roared in their direction throwing his body forward.

A stream of energy, a mashup of white and black light, shot from his mouth directly to them. Everything in its way seemed to disintegrate. Vax jumped to the side but was caught by part of the ray sending him flying once again.

Percy received the whole brunt of the attack directly. It pushed him through several trees, each of them exploding with the impact and sending a cloud of snow and splinters into the air.

He landed against a rock feeling his mind dizzy and his legs give up, but that was not all of it. Like time reversing itself, he was hurled back the way he had been thrown, being pulled by a strange force. All the trees got back into one piece and Vax seemed to be pulled in the same way back to his position.

The Drake was rewinding what he had done, though the damage in both of them still resided.

Except the reversing stopped before they got to their initial position. Percy suddenly found himself standing some feet away from before. He felt a sharp pain between his ribs. He looked down and saw a very large branch protruding from the side of his chest. He yelled in pain which caused him to feel it even more. He was stuck to the tree behind him.

Vax saw him and flew to him, trying to help him get out of it.

"Take care of the damned monster, i'm fine." He spitted his words, blood filling his mouth.

He tried to advance but the lower part of his body wouldn't answer.

"Shut up, i'll cut the branch." Vax said while taking one of his daggers out and starting to cut.

Percy looked at his side where he had dropped Bad News. He couldn't reach it, not while being impaled.

"Piece of shit." He said relaxing against his will.

He felt his consciousness start to fade. The corners around his visions became fuzzy and clouded in shadows. His left hand came to rest on the branch while his right one sat itself upon the handle of his pistol. He looked up.

The drake was bleeding profusely, whatever had happened while time had slipped from him had really damaged the creature. It didn't look good, but neither did them. Almost his entire body was not responding now and Vax was taking far too much time to cut the tree.

The drake began to fly approaching them in an erratic pattern. Time around them seemed to slow itself. It probably was due to the blood lose but Percy wandered if it had something to do with the beast.

As it approached, it blinked a couple of times phasing through several layers of the forest but then began to collide with everything in its way. It didn't even slow, it was tired but had its mind set on finishing them off.

Percy tried to raise his arm.

The Temporal Drake got closer and closer until there were only a couple feet between them.

"No you don't." Percy said looking straight into the red pupil-less eyes of the monster.

He raised Animus and shot hitting the Drake between the eyes. The life in them slipped suddenly and the winged beast dropped to the ground impaling part of his face with the same branch as Percy.

He let his air out and his body shouted in pain. Vax cut the branch loose making Percy sit down without anything holding him in place.

The rogue posed his hands around the hole in his chest and a warm feeling surrounded the area.

"I will make the bleeding stop, but you have to be treated by a priest." Vax said without even looking at the dead monster behind him.

The drake was dead, they had to get the blood out of its body as soon as possible before whatever made it work as intended stopped. Who cared about a wound?

"I have bandages." The gunslinger said hurting in every word.

"It will do for now."

"We need the blood." Percy started taking quick breathes to talk. "There is a machine in my backpack," quick breath, "that will do the suction", quick breath, "like a pump."

He would have done it itself but he was too occupied with passing out. The last step was almost complete.


	4. Chapter 4

You come looking for me again? What for? I thought you "wanted your money back", and now look at you. A pathetic little creature crawling and begging me for a new inspiration. Such a pity the human mind is so obscured, so obsolete. But yet they are so useful, YOU are so useful.

Don't you think I've forgotten how we ended up in our last deal. You won't be able to escape this one like before. You'll have to take it to completion, or I will do it for you. I've been gathering my force, I am not that weak shadow of my true form that you faced. I am torn between accepting or just tearing you apart and watching you rot for eternity.

Mmhhhhh...

But yes, I see it. All playing out right before my eyes, we could do so much great together, so much wrong. Ha. It could be so much fun. I can help you but you'll obey me, and you will enjoy because that's who you are.

Welcome back to the shadows where you belong, Percival.

* * *

"I am growing tired of always ending up having to take care of you." Cassandra's voice woke him up.

Once again in his room, once again no recollection of how.

He tried to move but his head hurt like crazy. So, he just stayed laying there, breathing. That's when he discovered that his chest hurt ten times more.

"Right, the branch." He thought, trying to angle himself in a way where it would hurt just a tiny less.

Cassandra stood up and helped him with a scowl one her face. Her hands trembled. Her nose was red and she didn't have any clothes to warm her.

She was still sick.

"Cass… I've, I haven't been the greatest brother, have I?" He asked while letting her tend to him.

"No." She patted his head lovingly. "But i haven't been the greatest sister neither."

"I'm sorry."

Cassandra went silent for a couple of minutes. She looked outside. It was a quiet night. Percy was growing tired of having to ask himself what day it was, or what time.

"Do you think this is what lady Vex'ahlia would have wanted for you?" She finally said.

"Boy have I been a bad brother." Percy instinctively thought.

"I, I don't know." He answered almost mumbling. "I don't think so, but she's not here to tell me that."

That sounded worse than he had intended.

"Well I'm still here, is it not enough if i tell you time and time again?"

"You are right, of course, you always are." Percy started. "But I have to do this, it doesn't matter if it tears me apart or if it ends me in the end, as long as everything is saved."

"It matters to me." She said. "From this side it looks like you are trying to kill yourself. Is that what you want? To end everything after all this time? Is that why you disappear as often? Why you appear bleeding and almost dying? Is that the way you want to go? Lost in some far away and horrible place?"

"What? No, of course not!" He said. "I have a plan, you'll have to trust me, please."

"I won't die just yet, I will crawl out of my tomb if need be." He added in his thoughts.

Vax interrupted whatever Cassandra was going to reply. She turned around instead to look at him waiting in the door, his face a pale emotionless one.

She stood up, kissed Percy's forehead and got out.

Vax entered.

"What day is it?" Percy asked letting a growl out that he had been resisting during the previous conversation.

"It's almost new year, just a few minutes off." The rogue replied while getting closer. "Now come one, up."

Vax started to help the gunslinger to get out of bed.

"I don't think I should be moving." Percy said a little confused. "Where are we going?"

Vax continued to assist him.

"I've known you for so long, I know you won't wait, and I prefer to be there and help you than letting you sneak off on your own being like this." Vax said trying to sound calm. "We are going to activate your weird machine."

"But…"

"Taryon did the last whatevers so it could function while you were sleeping." Vax interrupted him.

"Okay." Percy said while starting to move on his own.

They walked in silence through the great corridors of castle Whitestone until arriving at the lab. While going there Percy thought he should be afraid. He was actually doing this, he was going to travel back in time and fix everything. He would recover his lost friends, his lost wife, the lost lives of so many people he didn't even know. He should know them, all of them, at least all the ones that lived in Whitestone. He would be able to erase the horrible memories that haunted him at night, and during the day. Every time he smiled, the memories were there, right beside all his horrible decisions. It didn't help that for this plan to succeed he had needed to take more and more of them.

He would save everyone. Keyleth, Grog, Scanlan and Pike. And he would save Vex, oh he would save her no matter what or how. She was the best of them, if somehow, he didn't save all the others, at least by saving her she would find some way to get the rest. She was so strong, so incredible in all the ways he couldn't be.

During this walk it was the first time the Percy actually let himself remember the good times, remember the faces of Vox Machina. The pain was still there, he let himself feel it to remind himself why was he doing this, why was it so important and what would he get back.

When they got to the laboratory Doty was already pulling the lever that opened the ceiling and elevated the platform with the machine on top to ground level.

"Thank you." Percy allowed himself to tell Vax, who gently let him sit on the chair of the machine.

"You fight your way, I'll fight mine." Vax said with a sad smile. "See you on the other side Percy."

Vax gave Percy a sudden hug and as sudden as it happened it ended.

The whole contraption jerked to a stop. Percy checked around him and found his guns holstered in their compartments.

He felt a cold sensation on his head and looked up only to find that it was slowly snowing.

It was a beatiful night indeed. He made sure to remember everything, to set it in his mind. His last moments in this fucked up reality.

"Hey Percy," Vax yelled, "happy new year."

"Happy New year, and happy new life." Percy replied.

Then he started the machine.

The magic circles ignited in bright and arcane light elevating themselves from the ground and becoming thin lines of energy that quickly surrounded the machine.

The metal rings started vibrating as they relocated themselves in a sort of inner wall and started swirling in what seemed a random pattern.

The pumping machines made the Drake's blood flow to and within every pipe that was attached, giving the metal and everything around a blackish glow with a hissing sound.

Vax had to grab himself from what he found most near as the sudden surge of energy and velocity from the objects sent a wave of air around it.

Percy thought he saw movement in one of the windows of the castle, two in fact. Cassandra? Taryon?

He had no time to think as he felt a throbbing pain emerge out of nowhere in his right hand. He looked down, the ring was burning red and it felt like it would almost burst from sheer pressure.

The snow started swirling too around him, becoming a smooth sheet of white that enveloped him.

Vax yelled something, his voice lost in the cacophony of sounds.

A huge shadow hit against the machine with such a power that it almost removed it from its hinges, destroying the sheet of white.

"I see you, good try, better luck next time." The shadow spoke in Vecna's voice.

But as soon as it said it, it got torn apart from the time machine. Percy couldn't move even if he had wanted to. He was scared out of his life and felt like his soul was about to leave his body.

Around him a storm like a tornado circled and destroyed everything in its way. He could only see colours at this point, Light blues and white mixed with dark and electric blues. Everything formed a swirling vortex of sound and power.

The last thing he heard was a deafening crack that made him feel like his brain would just burst open. He instinctively protected his ears with his hands and screamed at the top of his lungs.

And then everything…

Stopped.

Five figures appeared mostly as shadows illuminated against the tornado walls by the frozen lightning.

The five of them were enormous in comparison to everything else and each of them approached from a different direction, taking their respective places.

The first to let itself be seen was an old man with a long white beard, almost bold, and a grey tunic covering his body. His eyes were completely white and his face was full of wrinkles and marks of old age. He carried a staff with an oil lantern at the top that emanated light in various directions, like a star. His face had been shaped by time and showed no sign of human emotion.

Next to him appeared the skull missing an eye of Vecna in his own robe, emanating a sickly green aura around him and looking both pleased and concerned at the situation.

Right in front of him the perfectly curved mask-like face of the Raven Queen appeared as if created out of the air around them. Her black dress relegated to the shadows cast by her feathers, though her long hands with even longer fingers reached ever so slightly toward the centre of it all.

The other two figures remained in shadows as they all looked down at Percival. The one next to the Raven Queen appeared to be smaller than the rest, with pointy ears and what it could only be a wild mane of hair. In front of him, the last shadow was a winged one with horns at the side of its large animal-like skull and a body much bulkier than the rest.

"I'm sure you are wondering why I have called you here, to this moment, in this very place." Started the old man.

"This fucker just ripped apart the fucking gate, so I'm sure that's the reason." Interrupted the winged shadow.

"Did he now?" Artagan said as he let himself be seen with his red hair and green clothing.

He looked down at Percival frozen in place.

"What door exactly did he broke?" He asked.

"What door? THE door, you moron! And why the fuck are you even here? This elf does not belong between us!" The winged shadow answered.

"The divine door, young fey." The voice of the Raven Queen announced.

"Oh... _oh,_ now now this sounds like fun, though I do have to side with my not very charming friend here, why was I called to whatever this is?" Artagan replied seeming much more interested now.

"Silence everyone, you have all been called here for a reason." The old man said. "The gate will close again, I've taken the precaution of securing that, but this council has been reunited because of the individual that has caused all of this: Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klowolski de Rolo III."

"But you can call him Percy." Artagan added.

"I may just call him fucker." The winged shadow answered.

"This individual," The old man continued, "has not only broken the gate, but also is in the middle of bending time itself, going backwards in an attempt to rewrite history, my domain."

Time resumed for a millisecond where the storm continued to destroy anything and everything.

It stopped again.

"That's why you have been called." The old man continued. "The last ascended has asked for this individual to be removed of the current space and time continuum immediately, but his proposal has been refuted by the previous ascended."

"Ahhh I assumed it had been your intervention the one that kept me from killing him right there and then." Vecna said with poison in his voice.

"I will not let you have your way in this world, you are not the only one who has claimed the power to destroy it all." The Raven Queen replied, her face completely calm but her words full of spite.

"So, I've been called because I can technically manipulate time to an extent, and he was called because my dear melted friend over there," Artagan pointed in Vecna's direction, "wanted a companion as ugly as him."

"Something along those lines, I summoned the ascended ones and brought you two as impartial parties that may assist us in the voting of what must be done." The old man said. "I would have called for young Ioun as this much pertains to her dominion as well but she was not inclined to share any kind of arguing space with the newly ascended."

"What is there to vote old man!?" The winged shadow yelled. "This motherfucker is breaking every law that has been created just in this action alone, and I have the fucking sensation that he will break even more if we let him advance with these, and it will be something of mine, I can sense it and I will not tolerate that."

"You may call me The Hermit." The old man said.

"If he ends up travelling can I go with him, wise Hermit?" Artagan asked.

"No." The Hermit replied over Vecna's, the Raven Queen's and the winged shadow's sigh.

"Everyone is a judge here, my lord, this boy is much more entertaining than any of you." Artagan complained.

"Let's proceed with the voting please." The hermit said.

Time advance another millisecond where Percy believed to hear voices but was too afraid to even try to move.

The two ascended ones voted in favour and against letting Percival continue with his "trip." So that was one positive and one negative vote from the get go.

"The bitch queen might be even crazier than I thought. My vote is an absolute no, let him rot in here, unable to die or to live, watching everything else be corrupted." The winged shadow screamed.

"Two negative votes and one positive," The old man ignored him, "Artagan?"

"If he travels back in time will he meet a younger version of myself? Oh, what a fun and exciting idea! Let him continue, he has my approval, after all we could all use a change of style and scenario around here." Said Artagan giving a stinking eye directly to Vecna.

"We have reached an impasse, it seems." The old one said. "I shan't vote as that is not my place, but I will hear what you have to say."

"Can you keep time like this for as many hours as that may take?" Artagan asked. "I don't think we will arrive to an agreement any time soon."

"That won't be necessary noisy archfey." Vecna's voice sneaked into everyone's ears. "I have a proposition, a compromise as you will."

"I will not accept any words spoken by the Whispered One." The Raven Queen talked passionless.

"Talk." The Hermit said.

"Let him travel, but let his mind suffer the corruption he deserves, he will get what he thinks he wants but will make a sacrifice to get it." Vecna said without trying to hide his hideous smile.

"What does everyone think about this?"

"What this *corruption* might entail must be decided between he and I." The Queen said looking directly at Vecna.

"That is acceptable." Vecna replied.

"Then I'll join in the fun too, if he can travel that's great, let's wish him the best of lucks." Artagan replied almost giggling.

"I'll take that as a magnanimous yes to let Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klowolski de Rolo III continue with his time travel and potentially change the outcome of all events." The Hermit said. "He will be sent back in time to where his machination would take him, I will not interfere and neither will any of you in his journey, except for the condition just pacted."

"Let this journey commence."

Time advanced and reversed and Percy was there and he was not at the same time.

And then, everything changed.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'll see you on the other side" was the last thought that Percy had before everything went to shit.

A huge storm surrounded him effectively leaving him blind beyond the machine. The sound of the electrical and magical charges around him threatened to overwhelm him. And when his panic was about to come into full fruition the inescapable and ever so threatening voice of the one eyed bastard attacked right in the very moment when everything could go wrong.

Percy yelled a scream so powerful that it mixed with all the other sounds. His ears popped and he had to restrain himself or else he felt like he was going to explode.

A big roaring tornado of energy engolfed him and he sweared to himself that he could hear voices for just the faintest moment.

A loud crack followed by what it felt like a thunder hit him with such a force that every sense in his body and mind shat down all at once.

And everything went black for just a second. At least that's what he thought.

He opened his eyes really slowly. The light sneaked itself between his eyelids blinding him for a moment. A throbbing pain assaulted his head and when he tried to move a sudden dizzyness almost made him fall.

He decided that a better option than that would be to vomit, and so he did.

He cleared his mouth and opened his eyes wide. Around him everything had seem to explode. And that included his clothes.

The whole machine laid dismantled, half gone while the other half had melted into hot pools of bubbling metal and Earth. The chair remained affixed in it's place though his clothes had been teared apart like a monster had clawed it's way to kill him only to stop a mere breath away.

So he was almost naked in the middle of a steaming pile of garbage. The clouds of smoke blocked his view but something was very clear, he was not in Whitestone anymore.

Thinking of his home brought new pain to his mind. He reached around looking for his weapons only to find that the container had been torn apart, everything inside of it gone.

Or maybe not. He pulled himself closer, yet still without the force to properly stand up, and put his arm as far into the container as he could.

He tried to touch the bottom and failed but found something blocking his way a few centimeters atop of it. He took hold of the objects and pulled, and his hand came out grasping Animus with intent.

He fell to the ground watching the gun, thought of putting it away but reconsidered and kept it at his side, and then he tried to stand up.

It was hard, with all the yelling and tearing his muscles were doing, but he managed it. That's when he realized he was in the middle of a huge crater, one he had probably created in his travelling.

What was just outside the outer ring? He thought it was some kind of crop catching on fire, but had no time to investigate as he heard the unequivocal sounds of hooves against the soft ground.

Suddenly, out of one side of the huge circle, a horse appeared with a young lady mounting it.

As the horse stopped abruptly to one side Percy could see that the girl was a half elf of black hair, with a big brown hat covering her freckled face and clothes that could only partain to a farmer.

He started to lower his gun, the one he had automatically pointed, as soon as he realized this was probably not a threat.

"Holly cow." The girl said with a familiar accent. She turned around and yelled to someone he didn't see. "There is someone in here uncle, come see!"

She turned around again to take a better look at him, trying to control her horse who was trying to get away from the steaming mess. She decided to get down to get closer.

Her hair was braided and although his glasses were broken, he did see a smile on her lips.

"Howdy partner, what you doin' down there?" She asked like it was a casual conversation.

"Ehm," He started. He lowered his gun completely.

"What's that?"

"Nothing important." He replied. "If I may ask, where are we?"

She looked around as if looking for the answer then looked back straight to him.

"Ma uncle's camp, right now, right about… in the middle." She said.

"This a big hole you're in, big explosion too, your clothes burned out in it?" She asked with something that he wasn't able to difference between mischief or innocence.

He automatically covered himself and blushed.

She laughed at that.

"Here, let me help you get of there mister." She said as she extended her hand to him.

He hesitantly took a step forward and held her hand for a second while she pulled to help him.

When he got out he looked around only to discover they where in the middle of a cornfield. A very big one, at least from his point of view.

"What's your name mister?" She asked at his side.

She was almost as tall as himself, and had an air of stubbornness around her.

"My name…" He started.

And then his head hurt like the seven hells. His mind spiked against him and he felt a crack appear through it like it had been fractured. He held his face with his free hand, trying to cover the pain that he was in.

What was his name? He tried to summon it. His name, he had said it countless times, his friends had joked about it with him till there were no more jokes left. It was his sign, his symbol, the seal of his bloodline. And yet, for all his might and intelligence, it did not come to him.

He looked for it everywhere, and only found blanks and forgotten words. He felt abashed but hid it too.

"I'm… I'm not really sure." He answered still holding his head.

The girl looked concerned for a minute, but her tone didn't change.

"Well, that's no good mister." She said. "You may have hit your head in the explosion, uncle will have to take a look at you."

He nodded.

"Estelle's the name, by the way." She added extending him her hand. He shook it. "Now if you care to follow me, I'll take you to the estate where we'll can see your wounds and all that cus I think uncle's not coming, that lazy goose."

Percy started to follow her but immediately stopped as his mind overcame the numbness and he was able to think straight one more time.

"I'm sorry, where did you say we were?" He asked one more time.

"Uncle's farm, already told you."

"Yes, yes, but where is this farm?"

"Oh, you are lost mister?" She asked, turning around with curiosity in her eyes.

"You could say that." He offered with a little sarcasm.

"Okay, we are south of Westruun, big city, at least the biggest I've ever seen, they sell everything there. Or at least that's what uncle said." She answered trailing away.

Westruun? How had he travelled this far in space? He hadn't accounted for the possibility of appearing somewhere else than where he was before.

"That's actually better than expected, this puts me closer to almost everywhere, finding them will be far more easy from here." He said, without realizing he was talking.

"Finding who?" Estelle asked bringing him back to Earth.

Percy looked up from the ground, and saw a clear blue sky with a shining sun brighter than any he could remember. This was not a place where Vecna ruled.

"Vox Machina." He said with what almost resembled happiness.

"Who?" Estelle asked again.

He was taken aback by this, who didn't knew them? They had saved the continent various times even before the whole Vecna thing happened.

"Vox Machina, the shits…" Her face didn't seem to recognize that. "A group of morons? Vax, Keyleth, Scanlan, Grog, Pike, Vex?" _Me?_

He saw her face register every one of the names he said, names he could still remember though not his own, and with the same expression not recognize any of them.

"How could you not know us?" He asked.

She took a sudden step forward and put a hand on his shoulder as she looked directly into his eyes.

"Calm down mister." She said. "You'll explain everything to me in time, but for now it's really difficult to refer to you without a name, so i'll give one to you."

He started to complain but she cut him of.

"Its only until you remember, don't be a cry-baby." She said joyfully with a big smile.

"Okay." He sighed.

She looked thoughtful for a minute, studying him from every angle.

He suddenly remembered how naked he was and how exposed he should feel about it.

"Mmmm, How about Vic?" She finally asked almost out of nowhere.

"Vic." He repeated.

"As in Victor!" She answered cheerfully. "You have a Victor's face."

"That…" He said, as he heard her words come out or her mouth, "is a stupid name."

She laughed, and he discovered that he actually quite enjoyed her laugh. It was a sound that he had grown unaccustomed to hearing.

"But your face screams Victor!" She yelled while laughing. "So I'll call you that, and then when you remember you'll correct me if needed!"

"If needed?"

"Who knows, maybe Victor's your real name after all, Vic." She winked at him.

"I don't think so." He started once again to complain but stopped himself.

"That's not important, we stopped the Chroma Conclave and saved even Westruun how could you not know about this?" He asked now with concern in his voice. If this was a joke, he was not into it.

"The chroma what?" She answered still unfaced by his words.

He didn't understand what was going on. Had she been living under a rock her whole life?

"The chroma conclave." He said once again. "You know, five dragons, five colors, the black one had this Goliath tribe that took over the city and destroyed part of it?"

"Are you sure you are talking bout the same Westruun?" She asked with his concern on her voice. "The one I know has been standing there my whole life, no dragons or Goliath, whatever those are."

He looked at her with intensity behind his eyes. If she was lying, she was very good at hiding it.

"But, that doesn't make any sense." He started while he paced back and forward. "If Westruun was never attacked by the conclave, or taken over, or..." He stopped himself one more time and abruptly turned against her.

He grabbed both of her arms with trembling hands.

"What, what time is it?" He asked.

She looked worried for a moment as he took her but didn't made any move at all.

"It's the middle of the week mister." She said sounding as worried as she looked.

"Nono, what year is it?" He snapped again without letting her go even though he wanted to.

"What year?" She asked. "Why I think it's the 782 after the calamity. What is happening Vic? I don't understand."

He let her go, and dropped to the ground, the panic settling in his body.

782.

The year was the 782.

That was almost thirty years before Vox Machina would meet each other.


	6. Chapter 6

While Percy calculated all the possible outcomes on how to solve the new problem ahead of him, Estelle had somehow gotten him to stand up and walk with her to her uncle's home.

It was a slow and silent walk, and Percy did not register any of it. In fact, it may have not been neither silent nor slow, he could not testify to that.

Something brought him back to earth once again.

It was the familiar smell of smoke and fire, and the familiar scream of people in danger.

He looked up.

The house, in the middle of the cornfield, had caught on fire and part of it was emanating big huffs of black smoke that rose to the blue sky.

"Uncle!" Estelle yelled starting to enter the house.

Percy's hand reacted without him even thinking it. He grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her mid step.

"Let me handle this, dear." He said taking the lead and pulling Animus near his chest.

He opened the door without difficulty, and entered the rapidly consumed by smoke building.

The noise of the fire burning hit him immediately, but it did not come from the base floor, rather the upper one.

He walked the stairs as slowly and sneakily as he could, trying to look in every corner before he advanced.

"Fuck off demon!", came a shout from one of the rooms. The voice was timely and grainy but it sounded more annoyed than scared.

He followed it to a wooden door, half opened, half taken out of its hinges.

He took cover to the side, the air around him becoming rapidly dense and polluted. He tried to look through the broken door but could only see hints of a man, a mattress and something moving very quickly.

If nobody stopped the fire, the house would eventually be consumed and that wouldn't be great, so he had to hurry.

He kicked the door in, and entered pointing the gun right to where he could see the creature.

The old man, "Uncle" Percy gathered, had a large stick barely scratched with which he was fending off, or at least intending to, the monster.

The old man tried to hit him with it as a reaction but Percy avoided it without trouble.

"Son, who the fuck are you?" Uncle said, his lungs heavy and tired.

"Doesn't matter, Estelle's right outside, you should go with her, fight of the fire before the whole bloody house is consumed." Percy answered without giving him much of a look.

The old man seemed to be about to object, but then reconsidered.

"A fire?" He said instead. "I'm on it."

He left the room quickly, leaving the gunslinger and his prey alone. That was perfect, as Percy recognized this monster.

"Abbadon?" Percy asked skeptically.

"Ah, my lord, is good to see you again." Abbadon replied while hanging from the ceiling in all fours. "I'll guess this is all part of some convoluted course of action on your part."

"You travelled too, i didn't figure that one coming." Percy said. "This may be useful, come down for a minute."

"No thank you." The devil replied.

"Oh." Percy answered feeling rather strange. "Did you just refuse my command?"

Abbadon dedicated the gunslinger a wide mocking smile.

"By the contract, I command you to prostrate yourself in front of me."

Abbadon didn't move, didn't even flinched a muscle.

"I would prefer not to." The devil said.

"But the contract,"

"It's null my lord." Abbadon interrupted him. "At this moment in time, the one you call Abbadon had another contract going, and as well as yours, that one was exclusive, so the first trumps the second."

Percy didn't say anything. If Abbadon wasn't the only one who had travelled, this could mean a lot of problems in the near future.

"Have you come alone?" He asked.

"To this house? Yes. To this time? Who knows?"

Then the others have come, Percy thought, i should assume they are in the same situation, which means shit.

"Did you start the fire?"

"Yes." The devil answered.

This is taking me nowhere, i either let him go o kill him and finish this off so i can gather info.

Percy started to aim upwards to the devil when he realized.

"Do you, do you know my name?" He asked trying to sound commanding.

"Yes?"

"Say it to me." He commanded.

"Why?"

"Let's call it a favour, you answer and i don't shoot you."

Abbadon started to laugh and he almost seemed human while doing it, ignoring the part where he was hanging from the ceiling and his body was covered in green spikes.

"You have forgotten your own name." His said while laughing.

"I don't see what's funny about that." Percy answered never taking his gun of him.

"But it is, rather amusing for one such as myself coming from my kind." The devil continued. "Poor man, you have given me one last gift before departing, i promise to make it up to you some day."

Abbadon jumped out a close window and Percy shot just one time, hitting him on the shoulder but not killing him.

He cursed into the fire that was spreading slowly now, as if someone was taking care of it downstairs.

Motherfucker, he would have time to think about everything once this whole thing was over.

He ran downstairs and helped Estelle and Uncle finish putting out the fire.

* * *

The three of them were sitting in the porch of the house. They were covered in sooth and were exhausted out of their breath. But they were alive.

"So, who you say you was?" Uncle said while arranging himself on his tiny wooden chair.

"Already told ya uncle, he's Victor, Vic between friends." Estelle answered immediately.

"So Vic", Uncle started while eyeing Percy cautiously, "are ya a alien or like a angel from the sky, or some shit like that?"

Percy released a big sigh and pull his glasses to clean them up but found nothing with which to do so.

"First of all, that's not my name." He started.

"So, who are ya?" The old man asked.

"I... couldn't even begin to explain it to you even if a cared to try."

"Do you have a name?" Uncle continued.

"Yes."

"Which is..."

"I can't remember."

"So, Victor it is." He concluded.

Estelle seemed happy about this.

"Second of all", Percy continued ignoring them, "No. I'm not an angel or an alien or anything like that. I'm just a man on a mission."

"From the gods?" Asked Estelle from the side.

"No, from myself and everyone I care about." Percy answered letting himself be honest for once.

"Sounds important." Uncle said.

"Yeah." Percy answered.

Then they fell into silence once again.

"Well, whatever it is you are looking for, you can't do it almost naked." Uncle said. "I'll go see if the clothes didn't burn with that fucking demon, so I can give you something to hide your shame."

Percy thought about saying something about that, and decided against it. Some change of clothes would be good, in fact a bath would really help right now.

What would he do now? Thirty Years was a long time, too long. Maybe he would have to just wait, it would be time to think, to enjoy a world that had not been taken from him.

He could learn about the history of a lot of places and even visit some of them before they were erased for ever. He could even maybe go back to Whitestone to see the old kee...

Percy froze mid-thought. His face must have shown because the girl was at his side at a moment's notice.

"Everything alright?" She asked.

"I could see them, I'd have to wait but I could see them again." He said in a low voice.

"Who? This Vox machine?" She asked clueless.

"My family, my father and mother, my brothers and sisters."

"Oh, they live nearby? We could pay them a visit! Maybe they remember your name Vic!" She perked up.

"I could... I could save them." Percy thought but he didn't say anything.

He could save them, he could change everything. He could truly change it all and create a much brighter future.


	7. Chapter 7

_It is with great sadness that I write these lines, that I start this diary . For my mind is not to be trusted as I find my memories drifting away with such ease that I fear if I don't start recording what has happened it may be lost to time._

 _I suppose I should start from the beginning, but with my story that is rather complicated. I suspect this whole endeavor shall prove difficult to accomplish; I have never been one to enjoy the literary arts very much._

 _I shall start by leaving something very clear._

 _I have saved the world two times, and both, as of this writing, have not yet occurred. I have set the stage so that I can do as it will be required of myself. As lucidity strikes me I write, but in doing so I do it with hope, so maybe I've not regained the entirety of my mind this time._

 _But to let this happen I have first condemned my own world to darkness and death._

 _I find it hard to actually do forget that world. I hope whoever is reading this holds a place in their mind for it too, for if I end up failing it will soon be theirs too._

 _I hope I save us all._

* * *

Percy road in his horse with intent and a bit of worry. He had almost forgotten how Whitestone had looked before the ascension of Vecna.

He felt a bit of guilt enjoying himself this much. Being able to waltz in and not hurry in the face of imminent danger and the end of the world. But he had to remind himself once again that he could not hurry even if he so desired or tried, for time did not bend to his will.

"Well, it did once." He thought with a bit of amusement.

He could try to replicate the event one more time, but something in his gut told him it would never work. It had been a miracle that it had worked at all the first time, and he could not live of miracles. If he could, all this would not have been necessary. Percy had lost his faith long before he had lost everything else in his life, he would not regain it now.

And so, he lurked in his black horse, very slowly entering the streets of Whitestone, a rural almost hidden-of-the-world town, that hadn't yet reached its "golden" age. Estelle followed him from behind, her white horse prancing with happiness imitating her rider.

Percy had objected to her company, allegating that he knew the way and that the trip was too long to leave Uncle behind to take care of the farm on his own. None of this had convinced her otherwise, even though she had no reason at all to come with him, so he resigned himself to try not to be annoyed by her. This proved increasingly difficult with the days the journey took, but entering his hometown, all his tiredness and his worries banished without even a breath.

"I must say Vic, this place has its charm." The girl said beside him. "Didn't know you a small town boy too."

"Darling, there's a lot about me you don't know and will never..."

There it was. In the middle of the place, with a presence of its own that commanded one to look at it and be awed by its visage. The Sun tree stood tall and proud, its leaves fluttering in the evening wind, its reds and yellows being showered by the light of the Dawnfather up in the sky.

It stood right there and then, as if asking a question to Percy, as if commanding him to remember and realize.

Percy had already forgotten how the tree should look, how alive and full of energy the massive trunk looked while illuminated by the light of the god that had planted it. How full of hope and illusion its branches and leaves had been before. And the tree now had something else, a kind of strange memory.

While looking at it, Percy couldn't help himself but think of Kiki. He thought of her smile and her clumsiness, and her infectious innocence yet commanding power that backed up every claim and every thought that his best friend had ever said or done. There was a not-really-there resemblance between the tones and colours of the tree in this time of year, and the red-haired half elf that had once been proclaimed the leader of Vox Machina, that had achieved in her own right the title of Voice of the tempest.

Percy was smiling, something unusual as Estelle pointed out.

He would have stopped, if just to tease her enjoyment. But for once, he wasn't remembering with sorrow and anger, but with fondness and melancholy. And that was fine with him.

So they stood there for a while, just contemplating the beauty of the majestic tree.

* * *

"You have a cute dumbfounded face." Estelle said with her already characteristic smile.

They were both sitting at a little white stone bench right by the border of the forest. People seemed to move in their routines without a care in the world.

From here they could see the castle. It was the same yet different. As with everything else, everything seemed more alive. It also looked a little less worn.

"First of all, that's rude." He said looking at her with reproval.

She laughed and he smiled.

"Oh dear, it's just that I think I had forgotten that everything could be this… cheerful and full of life." He added.

"Was it not like this before?" She asked.

"No, there everything was dead and cloaked in shadows, and nobody dreamed, nobody dared have "happy" thoughts."

"Well, that doesn't sound like this place at all, Vic." Estelle answered looking away. "Dare I say this place is very beautiful and alive."

"For once, I agree with you." He gave in.

"Didn't you say you was from here?" She asked posing her eyes back on him once more.

"Yeah, as I've told you it is rather a complicated topic." He answered. "I'll explain it another day."

"So you've said every day since your arrival, if I didn't know you, I'd think you are avoiding the question."

"And as I've told you, darling, you don't know me and you are absolutely right in not trusting me."

"Well that doesn't give me much hope." She said while deflating.

"The greatest lessons one can learn come with the worst realizations, my dear." He answered. "And I am not avoiding the question, I'm merely avoiding the answer."

She started to complain but he didn't hear her, for a couple was walking in their direction.

Percy watched them for a minute. His pupils widened and he stood up abruptly, scaring Estelle into silence.

The couple kept walking, two imposing figures in the middle of the street, wearing formal attire. The man had a suit, not unlike the ones Percy had used while attending parties or other occasions like that. He had a white beard and short white hair with a struck of black. The lady in the other hand wore a half dress half shirt with the colours of the reining house. She was beautiful and their smiles were as happy as he had ever seen.

And they were his parents. They were maybe even younger than him, but he would have recognized them anywhere from a mile. He could see a bit of every one of his brothers and sisters in them. Cassandra was as much as her mother as he was like his father.

The resemblance was obvious for even Estelle seemed to notice, but decided against saying anything about it.

His parents were alive. He hadn't seen them in so so long. They were alive and well and happy and...

They passed by his side. His mother bowed her head and his father looked him in the eye.

"Good evening, my lord." He said.

Percy opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out.

He stared at them while they moved on.

"I'm your son." He thought to say but didn't.

"I love you." He moved his lips, but the words were not there.

"Do not trust the Briarwoods." His mouth said instead in a loud shout.

The couple turned around, exalted by the sudden noise. Percy did the same, not sure about what had happened to him.

"Excuse me, my lord? What was that?" His mother said trying to be very gentle.

"This is my chance, I can tell them, I can avoid everything, I can stop the dying. I have to do it." He thought.

He opened his mouth, prepared to erase one of the worst events in his life.

And then he stopped. His father looked to him with concerned eyes, his mother didn't betray her emotions and smiled while waiting. Whitestone kept on with its life.

This place would be destroyed and would become a shadow of what it was. Vecna would try to ascend in this world too. He couldn't change that, could he?

A sudden idea started to grow in his mind. He couldn't stop Vecna, but he could stop his underlings. He could stop Delilah and Sylas from ever getting to them. From ever getting to his family, from destroying his life.

Suddenly Percy felt as powerful as he had ever been. He would have to wait. He would have to plan an be patient, but he had already done it for 20 years, he could do it for however longer was needed. He would fix everything.

"Sir, is something wrong?" The voice of his father brought him back.

"Ehrm, n-no, no." Percy fumbled. "I'm sorry, my lord, have a good evening."

"We will." His father replied, grabbing his mother's arm again.

"You look great together, enjoy your evening." His mother said.

And then they were gone. And he was still there, with Estelle who obviously didn't know what just happened.

"Who was them?" Estelle asked.

"Nobody." Percy replied watching them go.

"They thought we were a couple too."

"Preposterous, I know."

She gave him a side eye, he felt it even though he didn't saw it.

"So... What now?"

"I need to do some research; I actually need to do a lot of things right now. We need to go." He said.

"But we just arrived and there is no hurry." Estelle answered.

And she was right, he realized.

"I need to go to Westruun... I may have to talk with the Margrave." Percy continued rambling out loud.

"Sure buddy, but first you will sit here with me and enjoy this beautiful day in this beautiful town." She said patting the empty space next to her. "What was it called again?"

"Whitestone." He said while taking back his seat and letting her distract him. "Have I ever told you why is it called that?"

"No, why?" She asked, the perfect intrigued public.

"Well, you see. You see the stones of the castle? How they almost seem to glow? That is a material known as..." He started, with a sufficed smile on his face.


	8. Chapter 8

In retrospective it was painfully obvious that i would not solve my past problems with the same solutions i had already tried once. But the mind works in repetitive patterns and not once it occurred to me that recreating what brought so much destruction and death to the other world would do any more harm than the harm i was going to stop.

It might have been Orthax's influence or my own bloodlust, it matters not anymore. History repeats itself in the small details even if you aim to change the big ones.

I choose to believe that no matter how old i may be getting, no matter how hard headed i might have always been, there will always be time and the opportunity to learn from my mistakes.

They taught me that, and so i learned.

* * *

Years flow by when you travel across the world while focused on one thing and one thing along.

Percy amused the thought while looking through the scope to the street just a few hundred meters away. His left eye closed, his right dead set on the loud street where merchants and artisans seemed to be selling their wares in a sort of shouting competition.

While he travelled by ship, he had embarked on the reconstruction of his most trusted ally. It had been difficult and finding the parts sent him in a more than enraging set of long journeys, but once everything needed was at his disposal the design came to mind with as much clarity as the first time.

And with that Bad News had been reborn, though in this world it was the first time that it had seen the light of day.

Now looking through the aiming glass he felt a familiar coldness in his blood with a controlled rushness of energy and bloodlust.

Suddenly he came into view. The man, a young man compared to the now-into-his-fifties Percival, had a black mane of hair falling behind his shoulders and the subtle shade of a couple days beard that was starting to show. He was dressed in semi-formal attire and he carried bags with what he supposed were groceries. He was smiling and the smirk in his lips caused Percy such anger in his veins that his hands started to tremble.

Sylas Briarwood.

Alive and in the flesh, much more than he had ever seen. Of course, the first time he had had the displeasure of meeting him he was a vampire, and not much after that also a killer. Well, now had the tables turned.

Percy took aim, the crosshead aligned perfectly in the centre of Sylas forehead as he happily talked with some elderly women that had a fruit stand in the middle of the street. Percy took a big breath and held it in.

He was in a third story building, on top of it to be more precise, so no other building got in the way between him and his target. He could have followed his tallying around most of the town without almost any obstruction, without having to let him out of his shooting sight, and he had done it, countless times. He had learned by heart his routine and had studied the best spots for where he could take the perfect shot. Just one shot and that was it.

One shot for him, one shot for her. Sadly familiar, but this time the circumstances were so much different. This would prevent stuff. This was the correct thing to do.

His finger pulsed near the trigger, aching to press it and let the bullet fly.

Percy's mind was racing. Sylas laughed and his face was as exposed as it would ever be. Electricity pulsed through Percy's mind and he knew this was the moment.

His finger pressed the trigger ever so slightly while his face reddened with the pression of the moment.

Three, two, one...

Sylas turned around, waving goodbye to the lady and kept on his marry way. Percy let his breath out, letting his finger drop to the side along the others. Then he let the gun drop and rest at his side. And then he dropped himself to the ground breathing heavily through a coat of sweat that had covered his face and back.

Why? He couldn't bring himself to do it. Why?

He had taken every precaution and had planned extensively for this. He had been ready to execute his plan for two months now. This situation had repeated time and time again and he didn't understand.

What was stopping him?

It was just one more shot, one more bullet, one more kill. But this one he wouldn't have to mourn or carry like a weight on his shoulders. This kill would liberate him, it would make the world a better place. Wasn't that what he was aiming to do when he came here? When he travelled to this whole not-messed-up timeline?

Percy sweared and trashed the little chairs and things around him while no one was watching.

Before he was the lord of Whitestone, a member of Vox Machina even if he couldn't really remember their names. He could remember their faces and what they had done and how they had died at his side. But here, here he was no one. Vox Machina hadn't been formed yet and there was another lord in his place, a much better one at that.

Here he wasn't important, so he could act petty. He didn't owe explanations for his conduct. So he threw a tantrum, at least while no one was paying attention.

When he finally finished, he just looked at the sky and thought, as he had done countless past times.

Something was wrong, was off. But he couldn't quite put a pin into it.

The door to the ceiling opened and Estelle came through.

"Morning Vic." She said nonchalantly while ignoring all the obviously trashed furniture. "Breakfast?"

She had a platter with eggs and a bit of some meat that he didn't know from where it came. He didn't want to eat but his stomach growled nonetheless and so he complied and nodded.

"Downstairs then cowboy, i don't like it up here." She said with and eerie voice. "Feels like everyone's watching us."

So she went downstairs and he followed silently.

Through all these years she had followed him without hesitation no matter how hard he tried to get rid of her. Every time he would ask why she wouldn't leave him alone, every time he warned her that this was dangerous and that she hadn't anything to do with this, she would answer something to the extent of "I don't know Vic, sounds like and adventure and that's a good sound."

Damned girl, he couldn't make heads or tails about her. At least she had stopped asking about his guns and so he didn't have to think of new ways in which to make the phrase "none of your business" sound classy and sarcastic at the same time.

"Did you do it?" She asked with the same indifference as before.

"What do you think?" He said while taking a piece of bread and eating it very slowly.

"I think this has been the most boring part of this expedition. If you're are not going to, we could move on to the next thing." She said deflating on one of the couches

"Or I could do it for you." She suggested sheepishly. "I've seen you shoot a lot of things, mostly animals, but i doubt humans are very different. I could definitely do it."

He sighed.

"No." He said for the thousandth time. "This is my shot and i will take it when i care to do it, not a minute before or after. I'm so very sorry that my tribulations cause you boredom, may i suggest we part ways and if destiny so likes it will take you in a more adventurous and rather fun journey?" Also, i will never let you even put a finger in these guns if my life depends of it, neither you nor anyone while I'm alive.

Even trying to be as snobby as he could to her, she would not budge. Instead she just sticked her tongue out like a five year old and carried on.

"I don't get why you don't just do it." She continued. "You could have done it like a million times, I've seen you. You know you have it and you just let it go, like you don't want it. Why don't you want it, Vic?"

"I don't know." He thought. But he didn't say that, instead he remained silent, eating and feeling a very maddening pity for himself.

Maybe next day.

That night he couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes nightmares of black smoke and death reached through him, changing form every time but torturing him nonetheless. He felt in his bones, with each passing moment, how some other bit of knowledge, of his memories, flew away from him. He saw it banish without anything he could do to stop it.

He woke up in a cold sweat and reached for Bad News in a reflex that had been given birth in a world where no time or place was safe enough.

The gun was not there.

He looked to both sides of his bed and then took the whole bedroom in. Moonlight was entering from a slit through the curtains. It was late, maybe one in the morning, and he was alone. The other bed was empty, where Estelle should have been.

At this time of night Sylas would be coming back from one of his meetings with other lords from the regions. They happened twice a month and, though he used his carriage to come and go, there were several openings where someone with a point of vantage high enough could see and follow him or, more importantly, shoot him.

He raised the stairs while barely dressing himself and putting two and two together and he arrived to the ceiling just in time to hear the noise of horses galloping not a few blocks from there.

Estelle was there, her gaze affixed in the scope of Bad News, taking aim, completely ignorant of his presence.

She had the stance of a gunslinger and the concentration of a warrior. Had she learned that just from watching him? Her hands were firm on the grip and the barrel, and her fingers were ready on the trigger for when the mark hit the exact point. But none of that mattered for in that moment he knew that if she took that shot, she would become him. In some way or another she would fall in his same path and one more life would be ruined by his inventions. Not merely one more life, a life that, either he accepted it or not, mattered to him in some strange chaotic way.

The other thing that he knew with unrelenting certainty was that she wouldn't miss, and so he did what his aging reflexes would let him and he ran and jumped in front of her.

Estelle took the shot at the same moment she realized what was going on.

Then everything faded to black.

When Percy opened his eyes once more, he was still in the ceiling. Bad News laid at his side, thrown without a care in the world on the ground, the point of the barrel still smoking.

There was someone on top of him. An unfocused girl, probably Estelle. She was putting pressure on his stomach that, though through blurry eyes of having forgotten his glasses, he could now see was profusely bleeding.

She was saying something but his ears could not translate it. The deafening sound of the gunpowder burst still ringing through them.

"... The fuck!?" He could finally understand as the world ended coming into view.

"What?" He mumbled to say.

Estelle was about to keep saying whatever she was before when she realized that he was conscious once more. She took a step back letting him bleed, her face a slur of anger, guilt and tears.

"Why!?" She yelled at him.

He breathed slowly, letting his senses as a fighter come back once more and take control of the very minimal, and removed from his mind, parts of his body. The bleeding relaxed and almost stopped, though the wound was still there. His mind became clearer.

"I..." He started and trailed off.

"I don't understand!" She continued yelling. "This is what you want, why don't you take it?"

He shook his head, the words not coming to his mouth.

"You told me about that other world Victor. I don't know if i believe in that or if it's just some weird way you have to tell to yourself and others why you are the way you are but i do remember you told me you killed him there. Both of them, what's stopping you now?" She continued unrelenting.

"Because i, we ... did it." Percy said.

"So?"

"So... We did it." He repeated tasting his words. "We."

She dropped to her knees, more tears streaming down her cheeks.

"We."

He understood now, it was so simple. He was such an idiot. Of course, he couldn't. This was not right, this was vengeance. He had let that go a long time ago. At least this one.

"When I was young," he started, "my family took them in when they needed it, the Briarwoods."

He accommodated himself trying to listen to the sound on the street. They had time yet.

"They proceeded to kill my entire family. Well, most of them. Only my little sister and i managed to get away. And not even that lasted forever. As a direct consequence of that event i ended meeting another horrible person. As terrible as them. And that in turn ended up with me trapped in a cell almost dying of hunger a thirst."

Estelle was listening intently, as only she knew how to do. Her eyes had softened but the harshness in her voice still slipped through.

"That's horrible." She said in a hush.

"It was, wasn't it?" He admitted. "But, in that cell, that fucking horrible dirty and abandoned cell, was where they found me."

"There and then was how i met and joined Vox Machina. My new and true family. The people that would save me from myself, from my mistakes and from my past and help me be a better person, the best version of myself i could achieve." He added.

"And also, they are the ones that saved the world countless times, and the only ones that if given one more chance could save it from Vecna."

"If i kill him, like this, here. And then I do the same to her. Then all those things, those truly terrible things, will not happen. And when Vecna comes, and he will come, the world will not have his warriors and defenders to stand up to him and to seal him away for eternity. And then the number of horrible things that will happen in this world will be too many."

He was standing up now and trying to move with difficulty.

Estelle appeared at his side helping him and taking Bad News of the floor.

The sound of the gun had alerted the people and they would come into the building any moment now. They had to relocate before they were found or everything would be for nothing.

"But, Vic, if you let it happen like last time all your family... your life will be..." She couldn't continue the sentence.

He smiled a bitter smile.

"If a have to suffer so that everyone else gets their bloody happy ending, then it is what it is, and I'm fine with it. So you have to be fine with it too, got it?" He said decisively.

She was silent for a couple steps while they descended the stairs.

Then finally.

"Okay, but what do we do now?"

He thought for a moment trying to remember how things were supposed to go, and his face darkened.

"Now we have to poison a well."


End file.
